


Thunderous Applause

by 221B Bitch (UndeservingHero)



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: M/M, Senator!Amidala, Slave Trade, Tags May Change, slave Hux, slave!hux
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-16 22:18:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7286827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndeservingHero/pseuds/221B%20Bitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Senator Ben Amidala has only very recently come into his seat in the Senate. It doesn't take long for him to take up what seems to be an impossible cause. </p>
<p>Hux has belonged to the Senator of Arkanis for as long as he can remember and no longer knows what freedom tastes like. He barely has a name until Senator Amidala offers him a chance at so much more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thunderous Applause

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Idols and Dead Men](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6723853) by [Sath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sath/pseuds/Sath). 



> I want to thank dontacronus for encouraging this insanity and Sathinfection for giving me the plot bunny because of her lovely Senator AU that started all this.

Rain fell in torrential sheets, making travel difficult in every way conceivable. Transports were battling against the obscurity and the winds that threatened to take them out of the skies completely. 

It did nothing for Senator Amidala’s mood when he had to take over the helm of his own ship and correct its course to the Palace. They had drifted out over the lake instead of skating its shores. 

The pilot sat as far away as possible in the small shuttle craft and watched as the thunder clouds on Senator Amidala’s face matched those that were trying very hard to take them down into the lake. He got the creeping feeling that something was very wrong with his employer. He had been this way since their rendezvous on the Senate’s landing pad. He hadn’t been late because he had never left so that couldn’t be the cause of the Senator’s ire. 

It reminded him of the Senator’s mother when she had sat in his seat. She had always been mostly pleasant in front of the other members, but once she had taken residence on the shuttle, she had become a whirlwind of swearing and intolerance toward the hypocrisy in the Senators that surrounded her. 

He assumed that the younger Senator had suffered something in the same vain to make him fly like a lunatic in the middle of one of their seasonal monsoons. 

Or that could be his father’s genes. 

To say he was relieved when they finally landed on the Palace’s pad safely would be an understatement. He had no desire to die due to inclimate weather and a very pissed off pilot. 

He couldn’t even address the Senator before he left the shuttle in a sweep of heavy robing and a quiet tinkle of the chains dripping from his hair. 

 

The thick leather of his boots did a lot to keep his feet dry. However, every single other bit of accessible skin was completely drenched within moments of stepping out onto the landing pad. 

Black curls stuck to his face and neck and his robes became five times heavier with only water to blame. He hurried into the cover of the Palace and immediately started shedding layers to relieve himself of the pressure. 

He heard the grinding whir of a droid approaching and looked up to see C-3P0 tottering towards him as fast as he could. 

“Master Ben, so good to see you! I trust that your meeting with the Senate--”

“Was a horrible disappointment,” Ben interrupted. 

He sat on a nearby bench and pulled his boots off before gathering all of his robing and heading to the nearest laundry chute. He dropped it down and carried his boots along with him, wearing only his undertunic and short breeches. 

Despite his stride and determination to not have this conversation right now, C-3P0 did his best to keep up with him. 

“Master Ben, may I know what transpired so that I may try to process the available data to manufacture a proper answer to your current problem?”

He sighed and stopped. The calm way C-3P0 tried to help in almost every situation made him feel like maybe Naboo wasn’t going to open up beneath his bare feet and swallow him up. 

When C-3P0 finally caught up with him, he said, “I am completely failing in my position as Senator. I have no idea why Mother wanted me to take over her seat. I have no support whatsoever. The advisors Mother left me with treat me more as a pawn than an actual dignitary. So I may have lost my temper when I found out that Arkanis’s Senator arrived with slaves in his entourage. He isn’t the only one, but I don’t have the power to change that.” 

C-3P0 shifted slightly in thought. “I will consider this, Master Ben. In the meantime, I do suggest you get dry. It is raining awfully hard today.”

Ben sighed and looked down at the puddle of water that he had left and the trail that followed him from the pad. “I think that’s probably a good idea.”

Without waiting for an answer, he strode away, too fast for the droid to keep up with. He had long since mastered getting away from them if he really wanted to. Except maybe R2. His wheels didn’t require a constant rhythm of movement to get him from one place to another. 

Ben finally found his way to his rooms and got rid of the rest of his dripping clothes before getting into a very hot tub of water and soaking until the hard set of his shoulders was mostly melted away by the heat. 

***

A high pitched trill interrupted the quiet of Ben’s meditation. He opened one eye, spotting the small blue and silver droid over by the door. Sighing, he returned back to his exercises. “What R2?”

A long litany of beeping and trilling came out of the droid as he outlined an answer to the problem he had given C-3P0 a few days before. 

He listened with quiet intent as he kept his breathing even while R2 fed him a plan to make sure he didn’t fail in the Senate again.

***

The irritating artificial popping noise that was persistently pouring out of his datapad was going to drive him completely mad before Senator Maltiks left this swamp of a planet. Though, the rains did remind him of home. 

He settled back in his chair as he laced together a very tightly woven schedule for Senator Maltiks during his visit to Naboo. The patter of rain on the clay tiles outside of the open windows was methodical and soothing. His eyelids drooped and his datapad almost slid from his grip. 

A knock sounded through the room and startled him awake. He sat up, running his fingers through his hair, freeing it of its usual careful style. He looked up to see Mitaka standing in the empty doorframe. He motioned him in. “Is something wrong?” 

Mitaka looked pained. “I’m not sure. There is a Senator on the holo. He says he was directed to you through the Master.” 

Hux groaned and put a hand over his eyes. “Do you know what he wants?” 

“No. He said he would only speak with the ‘one who runs things’.” 

Hux sighed, hating the fact that he was the only one who even tried to run things. “Alright. Hold everything until this Senator leaves me. I don’t want to be rude.” 

Mitaka nodded and left. 

He soaked in the sounds of the rain for a moment longer. He straightened and brushed his hair back before answering the holo that was blinking innocently in the corner of his datapad. 

The storm outside made the transmission slightly unfocused, but it came in clearly enough for Hux to see the overly-painted face of a Naberrie Senator. 

“Good evening, Senator. What may I do for you?” Hux asked, hiding his immediate distaste for one so haughtily painted. 

“Good evening. I, unfortunately, am at a disadvantage. Senator Maltiks did not provide me with your name.” 

Hux was mildly startled. No one ever asked for his name. He was considered property and usually below notice. “My name is Hux, sir.” 

Hux watched as the Senator smiled, painted upper lip curving. “Hux.” He let the word linger in the air a moment as if he was trying out the taste of it in his mouth. “Senator Maltiks gave me your data drive address so I might speak with you directly.” 

The redhead nodded. “I usually handle his affairs.” 

A hand dripping with delicate gold chains waved in the holo to dismiss that. “My business is with you. The Senator has already given me permission, but I would like to discuss the matter with you.” 

Hux’s brows came down in confusion. “Me, Senator?” 

He smiled again, his lined eyes crinkling slightly at the corners. “Yes. I am afraid I said some unfortunate things about the Senator while the Senate was still in session. The...  _ repercussions _ were unpleasant to say the least. I would like to meet with you at my pod in the city privately. Would tomorrow after the usual Senate session be too soon?” 

Hux stared at him for a long moment. He still had no idea what this Naberrie wanted of him. Shaking himself free of his shock, he said, “No, Senator. Tomorrow will be acceptable.” 

“Excellent. I will send the coordinates to your datapad.” He bowed his head slightly and an inky slip of hair tumbled free to grace a cheekbone. “I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening, Hux.” 

The holo cut out and Hux stared at the empty space where the Naberrie’s face had been. 

Since when did dignitaries treat him like an actual human being?

He mulled it over for a long time into the night; even as he made sure the Senator’s schedule was neat and jammed so full that he barely had time to breathe. 

As he lie in his bunk and listened to Mitaka breathing evenly above him, he came to the conclusion that he was being sold to the Naberrie. There was no other logical reason for a Senator to want a personal meeting with him. 

At least the new Senator seemed like he knew they were actual people and not just puppets for pleasure. 

That thought was, surprisingly, the one that brought sleep without its usual battle. 

***

Hux arrived precisely on time at the coordinates the Senator had provided. The pod was very high in the building and had its own landing pad where a speeder already held residence. 

He stood beside it as he carefully made himself presentable, smoothing nonexistent flyaways in his hair. After mustering up all the courage he could manage, he walked up the shallow steps to the transparisteel doors that protected the pod from the elements. 

Through them, he saw a tall figure--draped in enough fabric to cover the building they were in--striding back and forth. Dark hair was pulled back with a headdress that dripped jewels over his forehead to directly above his unfortunately large nose. 

Hux swallowed and reached forward to knock sharply on the transparisteel to garner the Senator’s attention. 

His head jerked toward Hux and the redhead nearly flinched at the expression before it relaxed into a serene mask. He strode forward and the doors opened automatically for him. “Good afternoon, Hux.” 

Hux bowed deeply, as befitted his station. “Good afternoon, Senator.” 

A hand swept back into the pod’s living quarters. “Please, come in.” 

Hux entered, hands clasped in front of himself. 

He watched as the Senator arranged himself on a seat near a table laden with a light meal. 

“Join me. I am famished.” 

Hux held his snide comment that the Senator had never known true famine and sat. “Thank you, sir.” 

The Senator collected fruits before sitting back. “I have a proposition for you, Hux.” 

Hux nodded. “Yes, sir.” He braced himself for the terms of his sale to the Naberrie. 

“Your Senator and myself are at a bit of a crossroads.” 

Hux watched as he placed soft fruits into his mouth with fingers decorated in the paint that graced the bow of his mouth. “What would that be, sir.” 

“Well,” he said, setting his food aside in favor of giving Hux his undivided attention. “I am Senator Amidala. I have recently come into my seat. I feel the need to uphold my planet’s customs wholeheartedly.” He paused, searching for words or just for affect, Hux couldn’t tell. “On Naboo, we have no slaves. However, Senator Maltiks and some of his brethren have arrived with slaves in their diplomatic entourages.” 

Hux was startled to find himself in front of Amidala himself. He had borne the brunt of Maltiks’s rage at Amidala questioning his right to own slaves. “What does this have to do with me?” 

Amidala smiled. “Everything. It has everything to do with you. I apologized to Senator Maltiks concerning my remarks about his slaves. I convinced him of my sincerity. I also convinced him that maybe if I spent some time with his most trusted, then I may come to appreciate the practice.” 

Hux’s mouth went dry. He wasn’t being sold after all. He was being loaned out to this nerf-herding--

“That was a lie.” 

Hux’s inner tirade ground to a halt. “A what?” 

“It was a lie so I might get you away from him. Alone.” Amidala leaned forward and the gems in his hair tinkled with the shift. “I want information on your Senator.” 

Hux studied him for a long time, trying to find cracks in the made-up facade. “In exchange for what?” 

There was always a catch. 

Amidala met his eyes. “Your freedom.” 

Pale blue eyes stared at Amidala in disbelief. “What?” he croaked. 

“If I gain enough power in the Senate, I can free every slave on Naboo forever. To do so, I need every scrap of information I can pull together on all of the Senators with slaves. Maltiks thinks you will be in my custody to sway me in his favor. However, the opposite will be true.” 

“Why?” Hux felt something in his stomach flip. “What do you stand to gain?” 

Amidala sighed. “I stand to gain power. However, I truly despise the practice of keeping anyone in bonds that has committed no crime.” 

Hux mulled that over, trying to come in from every angle to find a hole in Amidala’s proposal. “What exactly do you want from me?” 

“Any information on all of the Senate members. With me, you would have access to all Senate events and files.” 

“What would you do if I turned on you and confessed to my Master?” Hux asked. 

Amidala leaned his cheek on a fist. “Deny everything and paint you a slandering know-nothing,” he answered without hesitation. “I do not wish to do so, Hux. I want you and all of the others to be free.” 

Despite that being the answer he had expected, Hux felt his temper rise. “The gold in your hair could buy our freedom. Why not just sacrifice a bauble? Why all of this trouble?” Hux asked, his cynicism poking through the polite demeanor he had been trying to keep in place. 

“Because, while you would be free, any slave that came here after would still be a slave. I want to change laws, not just rescue all of you.” His face hadn’t changed from the slight disappointment that Hux had elicited. 

“If you can’t do that, what do you plan to do?” Hux demanded. 

“Sacrifice a bauble and buy you all your freedom,” Amidala snapped. 

After a moment of tense silence, Amidala sighed. “I am sorry. I do mean that though. I would buy every slave and free them. Hopefully, I won’t need to.” He stood and moved to sit beside Hux, facing him on the long seat as he leaned against the back. “You seem very bright with how tightly you control Maltiks without him noticing. Should we secure the law, I would offer you a wage to work with me in whatever position you choose.” 

Hux stared at the idealist sitting beside him. His mind raced through the ramifications that his answer could have. On one hand, if they failed, he would be killed. In honesty, that fate wasn’t as grim as it had once been. On the other, he would be free. Truly free to do as he pleased. 

He had never seen himself to be an idealist, but just the taste of the word ‘free’ had him slowly nodding.

“You have a deal, Senator.” 

Amidala grinned. “Excellent. If you feel the need to end our accord for your own safety, my promises still stand.” 

Hux nodded numbly. “Yes sir.” 

“When no one else is around--just for image’s sake--you can call me Ben.” He rose and called for a droid. 

Hux watched as a droid tottered in and began to help Amidala free of his robing. “Ben,” he muttered to himself. 

Out of all the possible ways this day could have ended, this hadn’t even been a blip on his radar. 


End file.
